If you\u2019re promoting your products online, you\u2019ll be aware of influencer marketing. From famous models posting about athleisure brands to adorable dogs posed next to particular dog foods, it\u2019s everywhere. Most notably, it\u2019s all over Instagram.<\/p>\n
But, just how do you find the right influencers for your brand?<\/p>\n
Before you can start looking for influencers, you need to understand your audience. After all, there\u2019s no point asking a makeup artist to post about your brand\u2019s internal business! If you don\u2019t already have one, it\u2019s time to build a customer profile. This should include things like:<\/p>\n
Then you need to explore further. Look at your followers on Instagram or the mentions of your product. What sort of things do they have in common?<\/p>\n
By building a general customer profile and then filling in the gaps with data from Instagram, you can get an idea of who you\u2019re targeting and what kind of influencers they\u2019ll engage with. From here, you can start to narrow it down. RingCentral<\/a> users are typically able to discuss these matters remotely, so it\u2019s time to make good use of your online meeting<\/a> solutions.<\/p>\n Even if you haven\u2019t consciously designed one, you\u2019ll have a brand image. This should directly relate to your audience base. For instance, if you position yourself as an expert teaching companies how to use remote working<\/a>, you\u2019ll be aiming to seem authoritative and professional. If instead, you\u2019re a vegan protein shakes brand, you\u2019ll want to seem sporty and eco-friendly.<\/p>\n Knowing your brand image, you can search for influencers who align with it. The remote working expert will want to look for tech professionals. The vegan protein shakes firm, meanwhile, might want personal trainers<\/a> and athletes. Making sure you use influencers who align with your brand image and values is a very important part of engagement. It means you\u2019re only focusing on those likely to engage with you, rather than casting too broad a net.<\/p>\n Now you have an idea of what sort of influencers you want, it\u2019s time to assess your budget. Many big name influencers charge incredibly high fees, and you don\u2019t want to break the bank. That\u2019s especially true if this is your first attempt at influencer marketing. Instead, look into micro-influencers.<\/p>\n Micro-influencers will have fewer followers, but often better engagement rates. They\u2019re well known within their niche (a niche the above two steps have helped you find) and will tend to have a more targeted audience. They\u2019re also cheaper. You might even be able to wrangle a lower upfront payment for some affiliate marketing<\/a>!<\/p>\n Now you understand what image you want, what your customers are like, and how much money you want to spend, it\u2019s time to search Instagram. There are a few ways you can do this.<\/p>\n This is the simplest, but also the most time-consuming method. Have a look through hashtags related to your brand. For instance, if you\u2019re a makeup brand, you might look for tags like #makeuptutorial, #makeupoftheday, or #makeuphaul.\u00a0<\/p>\n Handily, when you\u2019re looking through one tag, Instagram shows you related ones that you can also check. Think of these tags as a point in the customer journey<\/a> where you can reach a new market. You want ones that people follow and engage with daily, not just when they\u2019re looking for a new product.<\/p>\n You can also search for the hashtag #sponsored – this shows all the sponsored posts people are doing at the moment. It\u2019s a very<\/i> broad tag, but will show you people who are open to influencer marketing.<\/p>\n Have a look if there\u2019s anyone who follows or posts about you who might fit the micro-influencer niche. If you have a social listening<\/a> strategy in place, you should already have data on who posts about you, and you can easily look through your followers list.\u00a0<\/p>\n If someone has over a thousand followers (and follows fewer people than follow them), posts regularly, and seems to have high engagement (if you know how to view likes on Instagram<\/a>, they will have a lot of both these and comments), then they\u2019re worth reaching out to. You already know they\u2019re interested in your brand, after all.The marketing\u00a0tool\u00a0Ingramer<\/a>\u00a0can you help you finding tons of followers\u00a0<\/p>\n Both of the above methods are quite time consuming, but you can always get technology to do it for you. Make use of programs designed to track Instagram activity – if you track those who follow your account, you\u2019ll be able to see if anybody\u2019s posts get a lot of engagement from your user base. You can also track potential influencers here, too, and ensure that they do have high engagement rates.<\/p>\nExplore Your Brand Image<\/h2>\n
Assess Your Budget<\/h2>\n
Searching Instagram<\/h2>\n
Use The Search Bar<\/h3>\n
Look Through Your Existing Followers<\/h3>\n
Gather Data<\/h3>\n
Use An Influencer Network or Agency<\/h3>\n